Conveyer



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.4 E. B. COKE.

GONVBYER.

No. 481,106. Patented Aug. 16, 1892,

(No Mod e1.) 2 SheetsSheet 2. E. B. COKE.

GONVEYER.

No. 481,106. Patented Aug. 16, 1892..

'NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EOKLEY B. COXE, OF DRIFTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

CONVEYER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 481,106, dated August16, 1892.

Application filed March 7, 1891- Renewed July 7, 1892. Serial No.439,196. (No model.)

i To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ECKLEY B. CoXE, of Drifton, in the county ofLuzerne, and in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Oonveyers; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 shows a viewof one form of my conveyer in side elevation; Fig. 2, a plan view of thesame; Fig. 3, a view of a section on line or :0 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4, aView of another form of the apparatus in side elevation; Fig. 5, aplanView of such other form Fig. 6, aview of a section on line y y of Fig.4.

Letters of like name and kind refer to like parts in each of thefigures.

The object of my invention is to provide an improved apparatus forconveying coal, slate, chips, sawdust, shavings, stones, and othermaterials; and to this end my invention consists of the conveyer and theparts thereof, as hereinafter specified.

In the drawings the frame for supporting the various parts of theapparatus is shown as consisting, essentially, of the upper and lowerpairs of longitudinal side bars A A and A A, respectively, uprights A Aof any desired number and construction, supporting the upper side barsfrom the corresponding lower ones, and transverse brace bars or beams AA also of any suitable number and shape, connecting the correspondingside bars of the two pairs. This special form of frame is desirable, butnot necessary, and can be changed without departure from my invention.lVithin the frame, between its sides, is the longitudinal trough 13,preferably constructed of sheet metal bent into the proper form.

Where the distance through which the material is to be conveyed is sogreat that a single sheet of metal long enough to make the trough cannotbe readily obtained, I can use a series of sheets, each bent into troughshape, arranged so that they overlap each other like shingles in thedirection in which the material is to be conveyed. Such sheets can beriveted or otherwise fastened together, as desired. On the under side ofthe trough in the apparatus shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 is riveted a fiatbearing-piece B, which can be formed of a single plate or a series ofplates arranged end to end adapted to run upon the series of rollers OC, journaled in suitable bearings c c on the frame.

At one end of the trough are the arms D D attached to the inner face ofthe trough sides, and pivotally connected with such arms are ends of thefork-arms D D on the pitman D which at its outer end engages the crankpin D on the crank-wheel D The arms D D are attached, as shown, to theinner faces of the trough sides to economize in the space necessarybetween the sides of the frame, and can therefore be otherwise arrangedwhen such economy is not desired. The crank wheel D is to be connectedwith and driven by any desired form of motor or source of power, andusually its crank-pin is so situated as to give the pitman-rod D a throwof five or six feet, though I do not limit myself to such arrangement.The pitman throw can obviously be made shorter or longer, as desired.

Pivoted or hinged to the upper bars of the frame are the pushers E E,which, preferably arranged five feet apart, extend downward and forwardwith reference to the direction in which the material is to be conveyedat about an angle of thirty degrees, and have theirv lower ends,substantially fitting the trough, provided with upwardly-turned portionse 6, adapted to present abrupt surfaces turned toward the discharge endof the trough. As shown best in Fig. 3, each pusher has the narrowerupper portion attached to a rockshaft 6', journaled at its opposite endsin suitable bearings on the frame, and the larger lower part whichextends from side to side of the trough and has its edges curved to fitthe curvature of the trough. The upturned part 6 also has its sidesadapted to fit the trough when the pusher end rests upon the bottom ofthe latter.

lVith the construction and arrangement of parts described as thecrank-wheel is turned the trough will be caused to reciprocate upon itssupporting-rollers O O, which, being well distributed along under thebearing-plate on the trough, will make the reciprocation an easy one. Itnow the crank -wheel be revolved so as to move the trough forward andback through a distance of five feet and the coal, slate, stone, orother material be fed into the trough at its rear end, the forwardtravel of the trough will carrya portion of such material under thefirst pusher, which will yield to allow'it to pass. Upon the troughsreturn movement the pusher will, with its abrupt upturned part, preventthe material from travelingback. Theresultisthatasthetroughnioves thematerial willbe caused to advance therein. A subsequent forward movementof thetrough carries the material previously retained by the firstpusher under the second one, which, as the trough moves back again, isoperated upon by the second pusher just as it was by the first one. Asthe reciprocations of the trough are kept up the material will be causedto pass along in and fill the latter and issue from its discharge end.Each time that the trough travels rearward the mass of materialcontained within it, the difierent portions of which are held frommoving back with the trough, is in effect advanced five feet within thelatter. Twenty reciprocations would then cause a forward movement of thematerial being conveyed through a distance of a hundred feet.

IVith the trough supported as shown and described and the numerouspushers acting at the same time upon different small portions of theentire amount of material within the trough, I have found that coal,slate, stone, or other substance broken into pieces can be easily moveda hundred feet or more without the necessity of any great power to drivethe crank-wheel or undue strain on the parts of the apparatus.

In Figs. 4, 5, and 6 I show another form of my conveyer, which can beused, if desired, instead of that already described. It has a framesubstantially like that shown in Figs. 1 and 2; but the trough B is afixed one and not supported upon rollers, so as to be recip rocable,while the pushers E E, of substantially the same shape as those alreadydescribed, are hinged to a reciprocating carriage F, which hassupporting-wheels F F running upon tracks on the upper side framebars AA. The rock-shafts c, to which the respective pushers are attached, arejournaled in the sides of this carriage just as the other ones are inthe said bars A A of the frame.

The form of carriage which I show is a single one, consisting,essentially, of parallel longitudinal pieces connected by suitable crossbars or braces; but I do not limit myself to such construction.

The wheels E F, journaled on suitable axles, are preferably providedwith flanges to keep them in place on the strips or tracks Ffiizxfastened upon the upper faces of beams The driving-pitman D isshown as having its fork-arms D D pivotally connected with the ends ofthe side bars of the carriage at the end of the latter nearest thereceiving end of the trough, and this is the arrange ment which I preferin this form of my apparatus, though I do not intend to limit myselfthereto. Instead, the pitman operated by the crank-wheel D could beconnected with the carriage at any other point of the same and in anydesired way.

The operation of this form of conveyer, with its pushers extendingdownward and forward into the trough, preferably at an angle of thirtydegrees, as in the other construction of apparatus hereinbeforedescribed, is briefly as follows: The carriage carrying the pushers isreciprocated by the crank-wheel and pitman, so that said pushers aremoved toward and from the discharge end of the trough.

As they travel forward, each one pushes on with its upturned part 6 itsparticular portion of the materialwithin the trough. I-Iaving moved suchportion to the end of its throw, the pusher is drawn back by the returnof the carriage, rides up over that part of the material just advancedby the next pusher behind it, and then as the carriage moves forwardagain engages and pushes such part on within the trough. The result is,as in the case of the other form of conveyer, that as the reciprocationsof the carriage are continued the material being acted upon will bemoved along to and out of the discharge end of the trough.

It will be observed that in both forms of conveyer the pushers are longenough to have their lower ends resting upon or supported by the trough,which limits their downward swing and consequently holds them fromyielding as they engage the coal, slate, or other material beingconveyed during the rearward travel of the trough or forward movement ofthe carrier supporting the pushers when such carrier is used with thestationary trough. By this arrangement I prevent all chance of strain orbreakage which would exist were it attempted to support the hingedpushers against backward movement, as they engage the coal by stops orother devices engaging them at or near their pivotal portions.

Either form of my apparatus is easily and cheaply made and affords asimple and efficient means for conveying coal, slate, shavings, sawdust,rock, or other material to a considerable distance in a horizontaldirection, which will not be so costly or difficult to run and keep inorder as is the endless-belt form of carrier heretofore used for thesame purpose.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. In a conveyer forcoal, slate, stone, and other material, in combination with the twoprincipal parts, consisting of a trough and a longitudinal series ofpushers hinged to a suitable support and extending downward and forwardfrom the same into the trough and having their lower ends adapted torest upon the trough-bottom, so that the latter forms the stop to limitthe swing of the push ers upon their pivots, means for reciprocating oneof said parts with reference to the other, substantially as and for thepurpose specified.

2. In a conveyer for coal, slate, stone, and other material, incombination with the movable trough and means for reciprocating it, aseries of pushers hinged to a suitable support extending at an angleforward and downward into the trough and having their lower ends adaptedto rest upon the trough-bottom, so that the latter acts as a stop tolimit their swing upon their pivots, said ends being provided withupturned portions presenting abrupt faces toward the discharge end ofthe I5 trough, substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set myhand this24th day of February, 1891.

ECKLEY B. COXE.

Witnesses:

JOHN ROHLAND, SAMUEL SALMON.

